historicafandomcom-20200222-history
George Henry Thomas
George Henry Thomas (31 July 1816 – 28 March 1870) was a Major-General of the US Army who commanded the Army of the Cumberland during the American Civil War. Thomas, nicknamed "the Rock of Chickamauga", was one of the greatest generals of the war, but his humility and his rivalry with Ulysses S. Grant led to him not getting enough credit for his prowess. Biography George Henry Thomas was born in Newsom's Depot, Southampton County, Virginia in 1816, and he witnessed the Nat Turner Rebellion at a young age; the rebellion led to him becoming a fierce opponent of slavery. He graduated from West Point in 1840, befriending William T. Sherman while he was at school. He served in Florida during the wars with the Seminoles, in the Mexican-American War, and in the wars with the Comanche on the Great Plains, earning his only war wound when he was wounded in the chin by a Comanche arrow on 26 August 1860. Civil War When the American Civil War broke out in 1861, Thomas' US 2nd Cavalry superiors Albert Sidney Johnston, Robert E. Lee, and William J. Hardee resigned their commands, but Thomas was convinced to fight for the Union by his northern-born wife, causing for his family to turn his pictures around, burn his letters, and ignore him for the rest of his life. J.E.B. Stuart, a fellow Virginian, claimed that he wanted to hang Thomas for being a traitor to his state. On 3 May 1861, Thomas was promoted to colonel, and he rose to Brigadier-General in August after fighting at Bull Run. Thomas was sent to the Western theater to command an independent force under General Robert Anderson in Kentucky, and he defeated George B. Crittenden and Felix Zollicoffer at Mill Springs in January 1862. His victory broke Confederate control over eastern Kentucky and was the first important Union victory of the war, lifting Union morale. In 1862, Thomas became a divisional commander of Don Carlos Buell's Army of the Ohio, taking part in the vicious fighting at Shiloh, and he served as Buell's second-in-command at Perryville. In 1863, he served under William S. Rosecrans at Chickamauga, and he became known as "the Rock of Chickamauga" for his stout defense against the Confederate States Army there. He took over the Army of the Cumberland in November 1863 and led it to victory in the Chattanooga campaign of 1863-1864, and he served in William T. Sherman's army group during the advance into Georgia and South Carolina. On 20 July 1864, he defeated John Bell Hood at Peachtree Creek, and his army dealt Hood a strong defeat at Franklin in Tennessee on 30 November 1864. Thomas' final battle was the decisive victory at the Battle of Nashville, which destroyed the Confederate Army of Tennessee. After the war, he wrote no memoirs and shunned self-promotion, and Grant and Sherman became the heroes of the Western Theater, not Thomas. Thomas died in San Francisco, California in 1870 at the age of 53. Gallery George Henry Thomas1.jpg|George Henry Thomas colorized General George Henry Thomas' Saber.jpg|Thomas' Saber General George Henry Thomas' Spurs.jpg|Thomas' Spurs Category:1816 births Category:1870 deaths Category:American generals Category:Union generals Category:Union Category:Generals Category:Americans Category:Welsh-Americans Category:French-Americans Category:Protestants Category:People from Virginia Category:People from San Francisco Category:People from California Category:People from Newsom's Depot